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Singapore Population 2018

5,821,549

Singapore is officially known as the Republic of Singapore and is located in Southeast Asia. It is an island country off the Malay Peninsula and is 137 Kilometers north of the equator. Singapore is comprised of 63 islands which are separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor. As a country, it has been extensively urbanized and still has a little primary rainforest left despite the fact that most of its land is developed and has been acquired through land reclamation. The latest population estimates put Singapore's population at 5.79 million.

Population Changes in Singapore

By the end of June 2012, the population of Singapore stood at 5.31 million. The record low was 1.65 million five decades ago, even though the fertility ratio then was higher than it is now. Today, the population is estimated to be 5.5 million. Immigration into the Island has played a critical role in realizing the current population figure. As the government’s recent campaigns to increase the fertility ratio from 1.20 to 2.1 have been futile, the government has been forced to amend its immigration policies to accommodate the increasing labor demands caused by the Island’s industrialization.

Surface Area and Population Density of Singapore

Singapore lays claim to 719.2 square kilometers of total surface area. In combination with the high popouation numbers, this comes to a population dnesity of just over 8,157 per square kilometer. While these numbers are quite staggering, there are still areas that are considered more dense, as Singapore ranks at 3rd for population density worldwide.

Migration and Growth in Singapore

Estimates from 2006 indicate that the net migration rate was 9.12 migrants per 1000 of the population. This was because the aging part of the population, although lower than most other developed countries at 9.9%, created a need to increase the task force in the country through means other than natural growth.

With the country’s different cultures bearing less than 1.7 as the fertility rate, the change in the current population is significantly impacted by immigrants over time. Since the early 2000s, the trend in population growth has been more a result of the number of migrants entering the country than from natural population growth.

The annual growth rate in 2012 was 2.5% according to statistic figures released. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has been 1.2 as of 2011 with 1.08 for Chinese, 1.64 for Malay and 1.09 for Indians. The Malay fertility rate was 70% higher than that of the Chinese and Indians. The country’s authorities have tried for years to boost the fertility ratio to 2.1 births per woman.

Singapore Population History

Back in 1960, the population stood at 1.7 million people. In the last half-century, the population has seen a change of 222% as reported by Statistics Singapore. The country grew by over 3.06 million over the last 50 years and reached an all-time high of 5.81 million in 2018, up from an all-time low of 1.65 in December 1960. Statistically, 0.08% of the world’s population is represented by Singapore, which translates to one person in every 1,346 on earth living in Singapore.

Just after World War II and the Japanese invasion, Singapore experienced a post-World War II baby-boom, which resulted in an increased birth rate and significantly reduced death rates. By that time, the annual population growth rate was 4.4%, with immigration directly contributing 1%. The highest birth rate was later experienced in 1957 with a total of 42.7 per every thousand individuals. Starting in 1960, the government chose to fund family planning programs; and after its independence in 1965, the birth rate fell to 29.5 per thousand individuals, while the natural growth rate had fallen to 2.5%.

Singapore Life Expectancy

As of 2011, Singapore has an average life expectancy of 82 years, per the World Factbook. This average is taken from a male life expectancy of 80 and 85 for females. The figure slots the country as the fourth best in terms of world life expectancy. The only countries to go above this record are Japan, Switzerland and San Marino.

Life expectancy is the number of years that a newborn infant is expected to live, in the event that the factors affecting mortality don’t change all throughout his or her lifetime. Like many other countries, women have a lengthy life compared to men in Singapore.

Demographics

As of the end of June 2012, the Island’s population stood at 5.31 million, making it the second densest sovereign state in the world behind Monaco. It’s a multiracial and subsequently multicultural country, with a majority of the population being Chinese.

74.2% of Singapore’s population is Chinese with Malays accounting for 13.2%, the second largest but distantly placed community in the country. Indians also comprise part of the minority group and account for only 9.2% of the population. The Malays are acknowledged as the indigenous community in the Island, although they primarily are descendants of the post-1945 migrations from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mahayana Buddhism is the most widely followed religion in the Island, although its followers don’t form a majority in the country. There are significantly lower-sized groups of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and those with no religion at all that add up to displace Mahayana Buddhism as a majority in Singapore.

The Island has four official languages: Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English. English is used as a mandatory language in schools and is also the main working language in Singapore.

How Many People Live in Singapore?

Timezones in Singapore

Singapore Population Growth

Singapore’s Total Fertility Rate of 1.20 per woman interprets to projecting only a slight increase in the total population. The fertility rate stands as one of the lowest in the world today and the government’s efforts prove there is a need to increase the fertility ratio. In the past, the government has launched highly publicized campaigns to raise awareness of the shortcomings of an aging population, and it has also been compelled to adjust its immigration policy in order to allow people in who will satisfy the country’s labor needs. The population is set to grow over time; however, the growth will not be sufficient to meet the labor demands that Singapore has due to industrialization within the Island. Thus, there is a possibility that in the years to come, part of the population growth will be attributed to immigration into the country.

Data Sources

Total population: Estimated to be consistent with censuses from 1957 through 2010, and with estimates of the subsequent trends in fertility, mortality and international migration. Official estimates up to 2016 are also considered.